Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Pech

I saw a blind man walk into an upright support today. I feel bad because I said nothing. I just stared at him as he collided with the steel I-beam. There were about two seconds were I could have said something to warn him of the obstacle. I don’t know why I didn’t. Here’s how it happened.I was walking to my train via an underground connection under the Zurich HB. This wide tunnel has support beams lining the middle of the passage. This section of the train station does not have the white bumps in the floor that the sight impaired use to navigate most Swiss train stations. As the blind man was walking with his cane, swinging it back and forth to find obstacles, he approached the pillar, which was to his left. Unfortunately, as he approached the support, his cane swung to his right side. The tip of it just missed touching the corner of the support. With his cane to the right of him, he stepped forward into the beam. The left side of his body smacked the support. He bounced back with a smile and walked around the obstacle to catch his train.I wonder if I had said something would it have made a difference. It still takes several seconds for my brain to convey anything into German speech. I think the lesson to be learned here is not to ponder what may have occurred. The lesson here is that when God, fate, Pech, or chance smacks you in the face with an I-beam. You should just smile and keep on going because there is nothing you can do about it.